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In line with policies to curb air pollution, improve efficiency of power plants and reduce dependence on hydrocarbon resources, plans are underway to convert gas-powered power plants into combined-cycle plants to generate up to 7,000 megawatts of electricity. Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian made the statement on the sidelines of a meeting with Italy's Minister of Environment and Land and Sea Protection, Gian Luca Galletti, in Tehran last week, IRNA reported. The two sides discussed environmental issues, renewable energy and cooperation in building power plants. "About 10% of our total electricity output comes from hydroelectric power stations and plans call for extracting more electricity from clean energy sources," Chitchian said, noting that producing 7,500 MW from solar, wind, geothermal and biomass power plants is on the ministry's agenda. Pointing to the interest of Italian companies in Iran's fast growing energy sector, the official added that the Italian company Ansaldo STS has provided Iran with equipment for gas-powered electricity plants. Chitchian said his ministry welcomes foreign proposals to develop combined-cycle plants. A combined-cycle plant uses both gas and steam turbines to produce up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant. Commenting on the country's first geothermal power plant in Meshgin Shahr, Ardebil Province near the Azerbaijan border in the northwest, he noted that the plant's turbine and generator were imported from Italy. The main stumbling block to expanding two-way cooperation, he said, is that Italian banks have "not yet opened credit lines for Iran." --- Climate Change Galletti singled out climate change as the "common enemy" of all countries and underlined environmental protection as the joint objective of Iran and Italy. He said Italy is morally committed to transferring know-how to other nations in the fields of pollution, wastewater treatment, green energy and recycling waste for power production. Highlighting the historic agreement in Paris last December to curb global emissions of greenhouse gases and limit the Earth's warming to under 2C, preferably 1.5C, by 2100, the Italian official noted that meeting obligations under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change calls for development of close collaboration among countries. Referring to the active participation of Italian firms in the 9th International Renewable Energy, Lighting and Energy Saving Exhibition in Tehran (Feb. 24-27), Galletti asserted that Italian firms are looking for a role in Iran's untapped but lucrative renewables market. On clearing hurdles to open credit lines for Iran, he said without elaboration that the Ministry of Economy in the two states are doing their best to remove the legal obstacles. Italy hast the second biggest geothermal complex in the world with a total capacity of 760 MW. According to latest reports, Iran accounts for 1.3% of global emissions, which is high compared to other countries because despite Tehrans increasing emissions over the past few years, the economy has not developed as would have been expected. According to Irans Meteorological Organization, greenhouse gas emissions in the country have increased by 3% in the past decade.

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Iran, Italy in Green Energy, Power Plant Talks - Financial Tribune

Engineer and astronaut Anousheh Ansari, left, and former NASA scientist Firouz Naderi accept best foreign language film for The Salesman on behalf of director Asghar Farhadi. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Ashgar Farhadi won his second Oscar, but he decided not to attend tonights ceremony afterPresident Trump signed an executive order barring visa-holders from Iran and six other countries to enter the United States.

In his place, Farhadi sent two prominent Iranian-Americans in his place to the ceremony:Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space traveler, andFirouz Naderi, a former director at NASA.

Ansari read from a statement written by Farhadi. Its a great honor to be receiving this valuable award for the second time. I would like to thank the members of the Academy, my crew in Iran, and others involved in the film, The Salesman.

She continued reading the statement:

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Iranian director sent prominent Iranian-American engineers to accept his Oscar - Washington Post

IRAQI GOVERNMENT forces last week launched a crucial campaign to retake the western side of Mosul, the Islamic States largest remaining urban stronghold. U.S. planes and special forces were providing critical close-up support for a battle that commanders believe could drag on for months. Victory is not assured and the humanitarian cost, which Iraqi forces managed to minimize in capturing the eastern side of the city, could steeply rise. Yet the biggest challenge looms beyond the immediate battle: whether Mosul and other Sunni-populated areas of Iraq can be stabilized once the jihadists are driven out. Unfortunately, in his first weeks in office President Trump has significantly worsened the chances for success.

The rise of the Islamic State was facilitated by sectarian tensions among Iraqs majority Shiite and minority Sunni and Kurdish populations, and in particular by the discrimination against Sunnis by a Shiite-led Baghdad government backed by Iran. After the fall of Mosul in 2014 the Obama administration helped to engineer the removal of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who fomented the sectarianism, and his replacement by the more moderate Haider al-Abadi, who pledged to build a more inclusive regime. Mr. Abadis good intentions have mostly been thwarted by sectarian hard-liners, including Iranian-controlled Shiite militia groups.

Consequently, the military offensive to recapture Mosul has gone ahead without accompanying political steps that might strengthen moderate Sunni leaders against militants who will seek to perpetuate an insurgency against the Baghdad government. A report this month from the Institute for Study of War warned, Early indicators suggest that a post-ISIS Sunni insurgency may be forming in Iraq and al Qaeda (AQ) is trying to gain traction within it. It said, the U.S.-backed Coalition has been focused only on eliminating ISIS, not other insurgent groups or the conditions that grow them.

While the Obama administration deserves blame for sidestepping Iraqs political challenges, Mr.Trump has quickly exacerbated the trouble. His repeated suggestions that the United States might seize Iraqs oil fields have alienated forces across the political spectrum, notwithstanding a disavowal by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Worse, his inclusion of Iraq on a list of majority-Muslim nations from which visitors and immigrants would be banned has prompted Mr. Abadis opponents to demand that Americans including the more than 5,000 U.S. troops now operating against the Islamic State be expelled from the country.

Mr. Abadi managed to resist a parliamentary resolution to that effect after that ban was issued. But if Iraq remains on the list of banned nations in a revised order the White House says it is preparing, he could face another political rebellion that could cause his government to collapse. Tehrans Shiite militias could push to replace U.S. forces in the fight for Mosul; or more likely, Irans clients could demand that all American forces leave Iraq immediately after the battle. That would virtually ensure the predominance of sectarian elements among both Shiites and Sunnis and open the door to another resurgance by al-Qaeda or other jihadists.

Mr. Mattis discounted that risk during a visit to Baghdad last Monday, saying, I imagine well be in this fight for a while and well stand by each other. A reasonable Iraqi might ask: Why should a U.S. administration that bans all Iraqis from setting foot on American soil be regarded as a worthy partner?

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Trump is already losing the long-term fight in Iraq - Washington Post

After months of fighting, Iraqi Security Forces have finally regained control of the eastern half of Mosul, the last urban stronghold of Islamic State in Iraq. They are now advancing on the citys west.

The recapture of the northern Iraqi city will be a strategic victory for Iraq and its international partners. But did it ever have to come to this?

Violent opposition has gone up like a mushroom cloud in Iraq since the early years of US occupation. The US military believed that buying peoples hearts and minds with cash was an effective tool to counter against the opposition. Things did not always work out that way.

Back in 2003, shortly after taking control of Baghdad, US forces discovered millions of dollars of loot taken by the Baathist Party during its rule. The US government decided to use it as the seed funding for the Commanders Emergency Response Programme (CERP).

The CERP aims to rebuild the country by funding hundreds of small-scale projects on water and sanitation infrastructure, food production, health care, education, and transport. And research shows that these small projects have improved the security situation in Iraq in the short term.

But the hearts and minds strategy may not be as effective as it appears in the case of Iraq. Aid can fuel conflict by creating incentives for looting, and providing a fertile ground for criminal activities. It is frequently stolen en route and induces fraud and corruption.

This new resource base can strengthen rebels capacity in an armed struggle. And many Iraqis see this foreign assistance as occupation forces simply giving them a tent after burning down their home.

The relationship between different religious groups is a decisive determinant of aid effectiveness in Iraq, and it was crucial in this case.

After the US invasion, the Shia-led government had the chance to reduce the enmity of the Sunni population towards them. To this end, part of the emergency response funds were used to sponsor the Sons of Iraq programme, which paid Sunnis to become security providers.

Sons of Iraq had two effects in the short term: it rewarded people who chose to stop fighting and, it gave incentives to local people to cooperate with security forces by providing them with local intelligence. After the introduction of the programme, the number of attacks in Iraq between 2007 and 2012 decreased.

According to the plan, the Government of Iraq would offer participants, most of them Sunni, a job in the security sector or civilian ministry. But in the end, only a small number of Sunnis were lucky enough to get a government job. Worse still, there were reports that the Shia-led government arrested, tortured, and murdered Sunni members of the programme.

Between 2009 and 2013, former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki gradually dismantled the programme, and filled Iraqi security forces with Shias; Sunnis began to be excluded in Iraqi society once more. This stirred up religious tensions between the two groups. The conflict escalated, leading to a massacre in Hawija in 2013, where hundreds of Sunnis were killed in clashes with security forces.

An Iraqi boy holds a rifle at a Sons of Iraq checkpoint in 2009.

Mosul has long been a site much-contested between different religious groups. These include Sunni and Shia Arabs, Kurds and Assyrian Christians. The complex tribal structure of the region and its proximity to the Syrian border make governing the area almost impossible.

Fearing a perception of favoritism towards Sunnis, the US tamed the Sons of Iraq programme in Mosul. But doing so contributed to the rise of insurgency in the region. It has had the unintended consequence of making Mosul a safe haven for members of al-Qaeda in Iraq, who were repelled from Baghdad, Anbar, and Diyala.

By now, all the conditions were set for a firestorm. Angry people were gathered in Mosul, willing to fight for whichever group was ready to overthrow the government.

Arguably, if the Shia government took the chance to absorb more Sunnis into the regime according to the original plan, ISIS, which stormed onto world stage in June 2014, taking both Fallujah and Mosul in the space of a few months, would have found it more difficult to initiate a war that has since become a political crisis at the global level.

While there is still a long way to go before a decisive victory in Iraq, it is time to plan ahead.

What can the international society do to prevent ISIS from re-emerging?

Humanitarian assistance is necessary for rebuilding houses and infrastructure destroyed by rockets and car bombs. But as the military advancement of the past few months shows, the key to success is cooperation that transcends religious and ethnic identities.

On one hand, the Shia-dominated security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga need intelligence from local citizens, mainly Sunni Arabs. On the other hand, local people require the help of the security forces to free them from ISISs harsh rule.

Behind the major identity fault lines between Sunni and Shia lie numerous grassroots-level rivalries over land and resources that have led to decades-long enmity. To achieve sustainable peace, different community members have to reach reconciliation. At the minimum, all groups should realise that no one is more righteous than the other.

Studies have found that cross-ethnic interactions in unions, theatres or even playgrounds can explain why Hindu-Muslim riots are less common in some places than others.

In this light, donors should fund social and urban design projects that help to build more inclusive, safe and resilient cities for all Iraqis. Hopefully, through these small steps, disparate groups can begin to reach a national-level reconciliation.

Even when ISIS is defeated, unless different groups can repair their relationship, violent extremism will remain, and peace in Iraq will stay elusive. Donor funding must be directed to programmes that help bridge divides.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Originally posted here:
Sons of Iraq: Mosul will only recover if we heed the lessons of the US invasion - Huffington Post

Hind Safaa has returned to her hometown of Qaraqosh in northern Iraq after Islamic State fighters were pushed out of the town. She and her family left the area two years ago due to fears that Islamic State fighters will target them as religious minorities.

Safaa was shocked to witness the destruction and ruins brought upon a town she once called home. Her house where she spent her entire childhood was destroyed.

I cant describe how I really feel. All of these pieces that have been thrown and destroyed carry beautiful memories, Safaa said. These are things that mom and dad worked very hard to build.

Safaa, her parents and siblings were lucky to have left the town in August 2014 two hours before Islamic State took over. Some in town werent as lucky.

Before IS attacked Qaraqosh, Safaa was going to Mosuls College of Medicine and dreamed of becoming a doctor.

Her family left everything behind, taking refuge in the relatively safer Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

Saffa told VOA that militants have taken whatever they could and destroyed the rest.

In every room, there were shattered parts of furniture, broken plates and torn clothes making it hard to walk through the house, Saffa said. It was so messy because IS fighters were planning to burn the house, but for some reasons they didn't.

Saffa added that IS burned hundreds of other houses that belonged to Christian minorities in the area, including the tall church of St. Mary al-Tahira.

IS graffiti has been smeared on its [church] walls, the nave is scorched black by fire and the altar has been vandalized, Saffa said.

St. Mary al-Tahira church was once Iraqs largest Christian church, and about 3,000 people attended the church every Sunday. Its symbolic significance for Iraqi Christians explains why hundreds of residents rushed back to the town to re-establish the church in late 2016.

FILE - An Iraqi Christian man from Mosul, who fled with his family from violence in their country, reads a book at the Latin Patriarchate Church in Amman, Jordan, Aug. 21, 2014.

But things for many Christians including Saffa are not the same anymore. The rebirth of the Christian community in Qaraqosh and the rest of Iraq seems difficult as most Christians who fled the town refuse to return, and instead are embarking on journeys to settle abroad.

IS blow to coexistence

The mass Christian departure from Iraq has made the future survivability of the church uncertain in a region where Muslims and Christians have lived as neighbors for centuries.

IS not only targeted minority Christians, but also broke societal fabrics in Iraq.

I don't want to live in this place again. I don't want to ever live next to people who chose to stay under IS rule, Safaa told VOA.

She and her entire family are attempting to leave Iraq and join their community diaspora in Europe.

Migration to the West for her is not only an attempt to find safety, but also a door for opportunities.

Two of my friends who moved to France are now preparing to study medicine. And my high school friend, Maryana, has become a great photographer there, Safaa said.

Maryana Habash, Safaas friend from high school, left with her family the night IS attacked Qaraqosh as well.

The situation was so complicated that night that I didnt even know where some of my family members were, Habash told VOA. I could think about anything but how to find a safe place for my two little sisters.

Habash and her family took political asylum in France in early 2016. She now lives in Riems, France and began school.

Just like her friend Safaa, Habash, too, thinks Qaraqosh is in her past now.

I might want to travel there at some point in the future, but I will never live there again. The values of human rights are non-existent in Iraq, Habash said.

Habash says eight more families from Qaraqosh also are settled in Riems, France, and more are on the way, suggesting that Riems will become their new Qaraqosh in the future.

Mass Christian immigration from Iraq is undermining the efforts of Christian leaders who want to establish an autonomous region for Christians in northern Iraq with Qaraqosh as its capital.

FILE - Iraqi Christians, who fled violence brought by Islamic State militants in the village of Qaraqosh, seek refuge inside a church building in Irbil, north of Baghdad, Aug. 11, 2014.

Continued mass migration of our people to the West is the greatest danger to our existence as a religious minority in Iraq, said Romeo Hakari, who heads the Bait-al-Nahrain, Assyrian Christian political party in Iraq.

Iraq had 1.5 million Christians

There is no official data about how many Christians live in Iraq, but it is estimated that more than 1.5 million Christians lived in Iraq before 2003.

According to Iraqi Christian Relief Council, a non-profit organization that advocates for Christian minorities in the country, sectarian violence following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and systematic targeting of religious minorities by IS and other militant groups have forced approximately 80 percent of the Christian population to leave the country.

Hakari of the Baitl-al-Nahrain political party puts part of the blame for mass Christian immigration from Iraq on the West for encouraging people to settle in Europe and elsewhere.

European embassies in Iraq, especially the French and German embassies, have facilitated the migration of our people, Hakari said

Western countries have shown more willingness to accept Iraqi Christian and Yazidis, citing continued IS persecution of these groups as a justification. Earlier this year, an official from the U.S. State Department told VOA that the U.S government and Canada were working to permanently resettle hundreds of Yazidis and Christians from Iraq.

Iraqi Christian leaders are continuously meeting with the U.S. and European officials to discourage such programs, Hakari told VOA.

Western countries can play a major role in providing us with assistance to rebuild our homes and defend ourselves in an autonomous region, he added.

But for many Christians like Safaa returning is not an option.

With time we have realized that it doesn't matter where we live and what system is in place. What really matters is the people around us.

Originally posted here:
Mass Christian Immigration From Iraq Makes Future of Church Uncertain - Voice of America